Chicken Livers

Yuanzheng stopped to look wistfully at a vendor selling skewered chicken livers which were roasting over a brazier and giving off the most delicious smells. Unconsciously looking like a hungry dog, he leaned on his staff and watched as the vendor turned the skewers carefully and the raw side of the meat sizzled violently.

Xuxian was in the medicine hall, inquiring about some herb that Yuanzheng had already forgotten the name of, even though the physician had been talking incessantly about it all the way to town. He sighed. This must be what it was like for a husband accompanying his wife while she chose trinkets. He had heard the other men complain about it and this oddly felt like what they had described.

He turned back to the skewers hopefully, but just then two hands fell on his shoulders as someone pounced on him from behind.

Snatching up his staff, Yuanzheng whirled around and held it out defensively in front of himself, knocking Qingqing aside rudely. She sprang back with an annoyed expression. "What's wrong with you, you touchy thing?" she snapped, hurt. "Is it a crime to surprise you?"

His face cleared quickly as he recognized her, and he quickly dropped the staff. "Qingqing!"

She had folded her lips in a pout, but when she saw how his eyes brightened she relented. "Well, seems you haven't forgotten me after all. What have you and Xiaohu been up to?"

"It's been so long since I last saw you," he exclaimed. "You don't come by the village anymore, but I don't even see you on the mountains now. Sister-in-law is just as clueless when I ask her where you've gone. Where have you been?"

"Did you miss me?" she teased, but she looked pleased. "I've been hanging out in town, because it's cold and lonesome on the mountains, and it's harder to find food. There's a girl here whose father runs a tavern of sorts where they put on shows for the customers. I do some dancing and whatnot for them, and they give me food and lodging."

She added, with one of her rapid changes of expression, "I told you, I'm not coming to the village until that stinky monk goes away. Just looking at him gives me indigestion. Does he even know how to smile? Or was he born with that beard and frown?"

Yuanzheng shook his head. "You're biased against Fahai because he's your polar opposite. You love fun, you're lively and you don't have scruples when it comes to enjoying life. But he's a holy man who has truly renounced the pleasures of this life in order to devote himself to helping others. Don't be so harsh on him."

Qingqing chewed her lip with ill-concealed malice. "Since when did you analyze my character?" was all she dared to say, but silently she thought, "You idiot, of course you think you know everything."

"Anyway," he added, looking more closely at her, "what tavern were you talking about? I've never heard of one which does things like that."

"Ah, I'm not sure," Qingqing said vaguely. "Probably they're just trying to attract more customers."

Yuanzheng frowned at her dismissive manner. "You need to be careful," he insisted. "I've heard that maidens can get ruined by brothels who sell them off to the highest bidder after putting them on sale for their clients to see. Your friend and her father may not be trustworthy, for all you know."

Qingqing burst out laughing. "I'm not your average maiden," she hooted. "If you think I can't take care of myself, you don't know me. However crafty they are, they can't be so cunning as to trick me. Let them scheme, if they are. I'll make sure I get the best deal from it in the end."

Yuanzheng blew out a breath in exasperation. "You're far too confident, Qingqing. Complacency will be your downfall one day. I tell you, there's something fishy--I have a bad feeling about it. You should get out of it as soon as possible. Find somewhere else to stay. You can always stay with your sister and Physician Xu if you really can't find anywhere else. You don't have to see Fahai if you don't like him. Winter will be over soon, anyway."

She glanced keenly at him. "What's this now. Are you, perhaps, concerned for me?"

"Well--I--" Yuanzheng said hotly. He made a helpless gesture.

Qingqing laughed shrilly as he looked away. She hit him playfully on the shoulder, much amused. "Look at you. You're so embarrassed it's painful to watch. Did I hit close to home?"

He winced and brought his arm up sharply at the blow, but said nothing. Qingqing stopped instantly, noting it with a puzzled expression.

She cocked her head on one side, a sharp look in her eyes. "What's the matter? I didn't hit you that hard. A big hulking man like you can't be that weak."

Experimentally, she darted at him and hit him again, watching him for a reaction, oblivious of the heads starting to turn in their direction. Yuanzheng leaped back with an alarmed face, clutching his chest defensively. "Qingqing, stop, you're making a scene."

"What happened to you?" she demanded. "Did you get hurt? What happened while I was away?"

Yuanzheng kept a good distance from her, eyeing her warily. "Stop hitting me and I'll tell you. For your information, you hit pretty hard too." he said dryly.

Folding her arms, she waited expectantly.

"The bandits came and there was a fight before we managed to chase them away--your sister was amazing, she fought them off and killed many of them. If not for her, we wouldn't have dared to resist them. But before they left they torched several of the huts and killed a few of the villagers."

Qingqing's eyes widened. "I missed all that?" she breathed. "Wait--who died? Were a lot of people wounded?" Her eyes narrowed. "Did you get hurt? Is that why?"

She sprang forward and caught his tunic. "Let me see. How did you get hurt? Why didn't you say so earlier, you stupid fool?"

Appalled, Yuanzheng stopped her just in time as she was about to undo his tunic with a matter-of-fact air. "What are you doing? Let go, Qingqing, are you out of your mind? Men and women should not be touching each other so freely." He wrestled with her briefly.

Qingqing rolled her eyes. "Shut up. Don't assume I see you as a man, just because you see me as a woman. Now let go and let me see how bad it is. It won't take long. It's not like you're a woman who can't strip after all."

Energetically she grabbed at his tunic. Yuanzheng seized her wrists, face crimson, as people stared at them, some whispering, some shaking their heads disapprovingly, some giggling.

"We're in public, people are staring!" he whispered urgently. "Stop this nonsense, please."

"Well, what do we have here? Have you no decency, or are you so infatuated that you can't control yourself?"

A voice as cool and clear as glass, and so sharp it sounded like it could cut, rang through the air.